Speculo
by Latin Ramen
Summary: After waking up without any memories, Kirito is welcomed to Speculo. With no recollection of who he was and nothing more to go on than the description that Speculo is an extension of the mind, he must unravel the purpose of the 'game' he has found himself trapped in, and the people involved.


My mind was assaulted by an onslaught of images. Each one burned through my brain and forced quick bursts of associated memories through my body. Each memory would cut deep into my conscience before dissipating and leaving me with a sense of longing lingering for no more than a microsecond before the next memory seared through my mind. I could hold on to no memory for more than a second before it was whisked away from my conscience. My senses were overloaded and pain spiked through various parts of my body, presumably in correspondence with my memories. I could register nothing else besides the onslaught that coursed through my mind. And then, it stopped altogether.

Vaguely, I registered that my eyes were closed, but I dared not to open eyes before I put my brain back into order. The visual and emotional waterfall had left me with nothing more than vague impressions of what I had just experienced. It had actually started somewhat peacefully if a little melancholic. However, before long, my memories had started to fluctuate wildly from peaceful happiness to chaotic sadness. After a while, the fluctuations had started to mellow out, but instead of the peaceful feeling from the beginning, I was left with nothing but a hollow feeling in my chest. This hollowness led me to search my own mind, but my search came back completely blank. Every single one of my memories was gone. In contrast with the whirlwind of images and sensations I had just experienced, my mind felt oddly empty. Surprisingly, I welcomed the feeling. It felt as if I was suddenly free from a large burden. In retrospect, the onslaught seemed extraordinarily painful. Then, the torrent of memories itself seemed to slip from my brain.

I opened eyes with a completely empty mind, feeling strangely relaxed. Slowly, I began to register my surroundings. I was lying on a soft mattress that seemed to be almost completely receptive to the shape of my body. The ceiling I was gazing up at was completely white, and after sitting up, I noticed that the entire room I was in was also almost completely white. It was so evenly lit that the corners between walls were almost invisible. There were only three things in the room: the bed I was currently sitting on, a white nightstand with silver knobs, and a white table that seemed to be inseparable from the floor.

I slowly stood up, amazed at how loose my muscles were and how calm my brain felt. However, the sheets of the bed I had been sleeping on were twisted and rumpled making it seem as if I had moved considerably during my sleep. I looked down at myself, finding that I was dressed in a plain white t-shirt and loose-fitting white track-pants. For a moment I thought about how the clothes would look on me, before shockingly realizing that I couldn't even remember what I looked like. Was my mind seriously this empty? I couldn't even remember my own face, much less my own name. Whatever identity I might have had before this point no longer existed in mind. But for some reason, nothing about this fact concerned me. In fact, it seemed oddly comforting.

I was beginning to think that whoever I had been before was a complete sociopath before I glanced at the table and noticed that a set of perfectly organized items were spread out across the surface. With nothing much else to do, I shuffled over and examined its contents. There were seven trays covered in transparent plastic, presented in a way that seemed like there would be a delicious meal underneath. However, what the trays really held were soupy piles of mush and indistinguishable bricks. Off to the side of the trays, there was some sort of handheld device. Small grips of rubber were placed on either side of a sheet of tinted glass. Perhaps the most worrying item on the table was a knife. The blade was almost a foot long, and the thin edge of the knife looked plenty sharp. I started by picking up the hand-held device and I was surprised when a soft ding sounded throughout the room, followed by a calm, even voice.

"Welcome contestant, to Speculo"

The sound of a voice was a shock in the still, quiet room. It seemed to be coming from everywhere at once. No matter how I turned my head the voice remained completely even.

"Phase 1 of our little game will be beginning shortly. To begin, please exit your sleeping quarters and introduce yourself to the other five contestants. They should all be gathering in the main hall as we speak."

"Uh, that's great and all, but how should I introduce myself if I don't know who I am?"

I was pleasantly surprised that my clean slate brain could at least process language. I was also surprised at the pointed sarcasm that rolled off my tongue so easily. Another thing that gave me a shock was how serene my voice sounded. My cadence almost sounded as even as the voice that was echoing through the room. I wasn't sure why this seemed so strange to me, but at this point, the strangeness was just piling on top of itself.

"Speculo is a lens through which to see yourself." the even voice said soon after. I decided to name the voice Barbara. "It is unexpected that your mind is so blank. I suppose I can at least supply you with your name. You are known as Kirito."

Great. I was an unusual test subject who was a bit lacking in the memory department. I tried to let the name bounce around in my head to see if it would ignite any neural pathways. Unfortunately, all that came back was a thought of the word literally bouncing around my brain. Even so, the name seemed to fit, although it did sound somewhat imperfect. However, before I could properly sort out the pros and cons of my name and general mental state, I noticed a silver door handle protruding from the wall. And once again, because I had nothing better to do, I moved towards it, twisted the handle, and pulled.

A chunk of the wall swung open to show a room that was considerably different than the room I had just left. While the room I had been sleeping in seemed as empty as possible, the room I had entered in seemed as generic as possible. It was rectangular and seemed to be made entirely of concrete with fluorescent lights spaced out evenly in order to give the room an even but artificial glow. Several sets of stainless-steel tables were placed around the room and a massive screen was set into the wall opposite of me. Spaced out at even intervals along the longer two walls were four doors, two on each side. Each of the shorter walls only had a single door. From my perspective, I stood in the back right of the room. Turning around to look at the door I had just exited I noticed a sign that read Contestant 4. Unlike the seamless white door on the other side, this one almost looked like the door to a vault. I didn't know if it was set that way to keep me safe or to hold me prisoner, but I hoped it was the former.

I marveled at how my mind seemed to be able to supply me with detailed words. Although I knew them by definition, I had no context or associative memories to tell me why. The fact that my door was marked Contestant 4 likely meant that the other five doors were for five other contestants in this so-called game. However, none of the other contestants had left their rooms yet, leaving me alone in the nearly empty room.

I was just starting to think of all the possibilities of fun I could have with stainless steel tables when a girl stepped out of the room across from me. She had a slender frame and her hair was a shade of black that almost looked almost blue. Her clothing actually had color to it, unlike mine, which seemed like it was trying to camouflage me with white walls in my room. It consisted of white top complemented by a sky-blue cardigan, and knee-length skirt. Her eyes narrowed slightly upon seeing me but returned to a mostly neutral expression after a moment.

"You wouldn't know what's happening here, would you?", she inquired, meekly.

"Absolutely not", I replied, just as serenely as before, something that seemed to surprise even the girl.

Before we could continue our absolutely riveting conversation, another contestant stepped out of their room. This time the person in question was male, and his hair was distinctly sky blue, and between his colored hair and the girl's, I was beginning to wonder if I had actually had bubblegum pink hair. He had broad shoulders and if I had to guess, I would say that he was in his late teens or early twenties. In contrast, to the girl and my relatively plain clothing, the newcomer was dressed in what looked like leather armor. This registered as unfair to me because if we played King of the Hill with those tables, he was going to have an advantage. His eyes scanned the room for a moment before they came to a rest on the girl and me.

"I suppose you two are also unfortunate enough to be caught up in this predic-"

Before we could spice things up a notch and have a conversation lasting for three sentences rather than two, yet another door opened. This time the person that entered had wavy lavender hair that was cut just below her shoulders. She quickly glanced around the room before turning towards the other three of us in the room. To my momentary surprise, she began to make a series of gestures with her hands. 'Sign language' were the words that my brain supplied in order to describe the motions.

'Does anyone know sign language?', were the words equivalent to her gestures.

Once again, my mind started supplying me with gestures I could respond with. My hands quickly started spelling out what I took to mean, 'Yes? No? I guess?', which must have been thoroughly confusing to her.

Instead, she seemed to let out a silent sigh, and signed back, 'That's a relief''

"I take it you know sign language", the blue-haired male asked me after this.

"Um, about as much as I understand anything right now", I responded.

He seemed to ponder that as the fifth door swung open and a boy with nearly white hair stepped into the room. He looked to be just over half the height of Diavel and couldn't have been more than ten-years-old. He wore nothing but a tan tunic. However, at odds with his young and naive appearance, a knife exactly like the one in my room was in his hands. His eyes immediately darted between the four of us and he took a defensive stance.

"If any of you understand what's going on", he started, his voice quivering dangerously, "You'd better spill it."

The black-haired girl let out a small squeak and blue-haired male took a step back. You'd think the dumbstruck looks on everyone's faces would have been enough to tell the kid, "No, we don't know shit", but apparently he wanted verbal confirmation. And since no one else was doing anything, I decided to step in.

"Well as chairman of the board here, I guess I'll speak for the group." I said, looking at the kid, "We have no idea what's going on."

The younger boy still seemed freaked out, but he lowered the knife away from us, seeming to see that the rest of us were in the same ship he was. It appeared the knife was nothing more than an act of desperation and fear. The kid sat down against the wall, breathing heavily. As he did, I continued to ponder the amusing uses of the phrase 'chairman of the board'. Deciding to put off my exploration of the fragmented scraps of my mind until later, I looked to the final door, wondering what could possibly happen next that would trump a knife threat.

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed the girl with purple hair sign, 'I wonder who the sixth is?'

'Hopefully no more surprises', I signed back. However, to be completely honest, almost everything was a surprise to me. My ability to comprehend sign language, our various styles of clothing, and even my own voice all seemed out of place and foreign. At this point, magical yodeling billy goats would have made about as much sense as everything else. Just as I was thinking this, our sixth and final 'contestant' appeared. The sixth was another female, this time with bleached blonde hair, although you could see a more natural black starting to show through at her roots.

"I guess you all are the other contestants that voice mentioned", she commented as she looked around the room.

"I suppose we are", the black-haired girl replied in a soft voice.

The blue-haired male cleared his throat and spoke up, "I believe proper introductions are probably in order."

He gestured towards the table in the center of the room and the six of us moved to sit down. The table was directly facing the black screen that was set into the wall. Its surface was smooth enough that my reflection was visible, and I could finally get a good idea of what I looked like. I had raven black hair, grey eyes, and a sort of girlish face. I seemed to be well into my teenage years, but other than that I couldn't distinguish much else about who I was. I ended up sitting next to the black-haired girl and the girl with bleached hair.

"I'll start", the blue-haired male stated after we had all sat down.

I turned towards the girl with lavender hair and signed that I would relay the introductions to her. The offer came out instinctively, almost as if it was something I had done innumerable times, further adding to my confusion surrounding sign language and my past.

"My name is Diavel", he started. "To be honest I really don't remember much about who I was. I keep catching flashes but they fade from my mind almost immediately."

Even though this guy could barely only see glimpses of his past, it still felt like bragging to me. My mind was so prodigiously empty that I was pretty sure I might start getting visions of other worlds.

"Yeah, I've been going through something similar", the blond-haired girl sitting next to me replied. "Does anyone here still have their memories?"

Everyone around the table shook their heads.

"I guess that means that we're going through this together", Diavel commented.

"Great," I commented, "A bunch of clueless teenagers stuck together in a tiny space. Happy fun times!"

"Yeah…", the blonde-haired girl drawled out her answer, seeming a little annoyed before continuing. "Anyway, I'm Kira."

The young boy spoke up next.

"Well, my name is Brady", he said, his eyes darting nervously between the assembled. "I'm… I'm sorry about threatening you." He put the knife on the table in what I think he meant as a gesture of peace, but I thought was unfortunately just spiking the danger levels higher

Meanwhile, Kira, who had not been present for said knife threat, widened her eyes and looked around at us all.

"Wait, what do you mean knife threat?!" she asked, in a slightly higher pitch.

"Er, a long story", Brady responded, probably trying not to bore her with details.

"Uh", the black-haired girl spoke up in her signature soft voice, "My name is Sachi. It's nice to meet you all". All throughout her introduction, she kept glancing at me. I didn't know if she was trying to get me to add something to her rather short introduction, or something else, so I chose to ignore the gesture.

Deciding it was probably my turn to introduce myself, I spoke (and signed, as I had been doing all throughout for the benefit of the lavender-haired girl), "My name is Kirito… I think."

Most of the faces at the table shifted into something akin to confusion. Diavel opened his mouth to say something but was cut off by Kira.

"What do you mean, you think?", she asked.

"Well you see, when I woke up, I didn't know my name, but Barbara told me it was Kirito," I stated, slightly flustered at the other's apparent disbelief.

Brady furrowed his brow in confusion. "Wait who's Barbara?" he asked.

"Oh. That's the name I gave to the voice person." I responded as if it was plain and simple.

Kira looked at me in a way that I can only describe as "Seriously?".

"You can give a name to a voice, but you can't remember your own?"

"Don't judge a man by the inconsistencies in his memory and abilities", I said with mock offense.

"Wait, so do you know, like, anything about yourself?" Diavel asked.

"Nope, I didn't even remember what I looked like. Only now, thanks to Mr. Smooth Screen up there," I gestured to the TV, "I know what I look like. A complete dork." Brady snorted. "Yeah, you kinda do." He said, with a smile on his face.

The faces of those at the table ranged from sympathetic to incredulous to contemplative, and of course Brady's smirk. What a tiresome boy. I can be self-deprecating but that doesn't mean he gets to insult me too. However, Sachi's reaction most surprised me, as her face was bordering on disappointment.

"And I thought I had it bad", the girl named Kira mumbled. "Anyway, you should probably introduce yourself,'' she said to the lavender-haired girl.

"I'll translate for all of you,'' I offered.

"So, you still remember sign language, but not anything about your identity", Kira asked, searchingly.

"His semantic memory seems to still be in place. It's just his episodic memory that is missing."

It took me a moment to register who had spoken. Contrary to my expectations, it seemed to be Brady. Looking around it seemed that this development was similarly surprising to everyone else at the table.

"Anyway!" Diavel exclaimed, apparently tired of all the introductions. "Go ahead and introduce yourself", he told the lavender-haired girl.

'My name is Ifra…' she signed, spelling her name out letter by letter. 'I guess there's really nothing to add to that',

I relayed her message to the rest of the group. Diavel once again opened his mouth to say something but was once again cut off. However, this time, it was the serene voice everyone had heard in their rooms.

"Good", it started. "Now that you're all acquainted, we can begin."

All of us glanced around the room only to discover once again that the voice seemingly came from all directions.

"Uh, begin what?" I asked. I secretly hoped it was dinner. The voice chose to ignore me.

"You are contestants in the first phase of Speculo and you will be playing a game to decide who moves on to the next phase. Each of you will be assigned a role. Each role has a set of winning requirements and all but two requires the elimination of other contestants from the game in order to advance. If you will direct your attention to the screen the roles will be displayed."

The six of us contestants turned our heads towards the screen to see it light up and display information regarding these roles.

* * *

**King – **The **king** has ascended to the throne by assassinating the previous ruler. Given the **king's** distrustful personality, he is plotting the murder of all who threaten his position.

Skills:

[Murder] The **king** can select a player to be killed. This order is passed down to the **sorcerer** and **ambivalent** who can, in turn, chose to carry out the order or not.

[Substitution] The king can call for the **double** to replace him for a day. All actions taken against the King will be reflected onto the **double**. Can only be used once.

Victory Conditions:

To protect his throne, elimination of the **prince** and **revolutionary**

* * *

**Prince – **Originally only at third in the inheritance order, but by taking advantage of the **king's **distrustful nature the prince has made the **king **murder the other princes leaving him first in line for the inheritance.

Skills:

[Succession] The **prince **is able to use [Murder] once the **king **and **double **have been eliminated

[Anti-magic] The **prince **cannot be killed by the **sorcerer**.

Victory Conditions:

To become **king**, elimination of the **king**, **double**, and **revolutionary**.

* * *

**Double – **Formerly a farmer who looks almost identical to the **king**. He is loyal to the **king **and not particularly ambitious.

Skills:

[Inheritance] If the **king **dies or [Substitution] is activated, the **double **is able to use [Murder]

Victory Conditions:

Elimination of those who seek to eliminate him, the **prince** and the **revolutionary**.

* * *

**Sorcerer – **The **king's **subordinate and the **prince's **teacher. He has no interest in the king's throne.

Skills:

[Execute] The **sorcerer **can choose to eliminate the character selected for [Murder] by the **king.**

Victory Conditions:

To survive

* * *

**Ambivalent – **A commoner who is a pacifist by nature. The **ambivalent** has recognized the state of the kingdom is beginning to wonder if something must be done.

Skills:

[Allegiance] The **ambivalent **can declare allegiance to either the **revolutionary **or the **king**. If allegiance is declared towards the **revolutionary **the **ambivalent **becomes able to use [Assassination]. If allegiance is declared towards the **king **the **ambivalent** becomes able to use [Execution].

Victory Conditions:

Depending on who allegiance is declared for, victory conditions match those of the **revolutionary **or **king**. If [Allegiance] is not executed victory conditions match those of the **sorcerer**.

* * *

**Revolutionary – **The right arm of the king who prepares to take over the kingdom

Skills:

[Assassination] The **revolutionary** can choose to eliminate a character.

Victory Conditions:

To become **king**, elimination of the **king, prince** and **double**.

* * *

Sachi was the first to speak after we had finished reading over the roles.

"What does it mean when it says elimination?", she asked, timidly.

"Exactly what it sounds like", the serene voice answered. "Elimination from Speculo. Or to put it in simpler terms, death."

There was a collective gasp amongst the six contestants. Following which, Sachi glanced at me again. The repetitiveness of the action seemed strange to me, but I still couldn't comprehend the purpose of the action.

Having nothing better to do, I questioned, "Um excuse me? My guide to memory loss never mentioned games to the death?"

The serene voice ignored me (How rude! I had a serious question) and continued, "You will adhere to a specific timetable when playing the game which will be displayed on the screen now."

* * *

Block A – Standby in personal rooms.

Block B – Gathering in the central room.

Block C – Selection of [Secret Meeting] partner. Spend 30 minutes in personal room of the selected character. The **king **may select a target for [Murder]. The **sorcerer **or **ambivalent **may choose to carry out [Execution]. The target will be eliminated five minutes before the end of the block.

Block D – Gathering in the central room.

Block E – Dinner in personal room. If food supply is unavailable, the contestant will be eliminated. The **revolutionary **or **ambivalent **may use [Assassination]. Target will die immediately.

Block F – Sleep.

* * *

"Secret meeting?", Diavel murmured as he read the timetable.

"Allow me to elaborate on some of the mechanics of our little game", the voice spoke. "Once every day you will have a thirty-minute secret meeting with one of the other contestants. During Block C you will choose the contestant you wish to have your meeting with. The meetings will happen one at a time, in accordance with who selected their partner first. If two contestants select each other they will have a single hour-long meeting carried out when the first partner selected the meeting."

The collective nods around the room seemed to say, "I get it, but I still don't like the murder part."

"As you may have noticed each of you have seven meals in your room. These seven meals should be taken once a day. If you fail to eat by the end of Block E, you will be eliminated. Additionally, you may have noticed the knife in each of your rooms. This is, of course, available in the case that you wish to take the elimination of another player into your own hands."

The voice paused, seemingly to let the weight of its words, and the situation in general, hang in the air.

"If there are no further questions you have approximately fifteen minutes to converse before you must head back to your personal rooms. Failure to properly abide by the timetable will also result in elimination. I have one final piece of advice for you. Remember that Speculo is an extension of your mind. A looking glass or mirror through which you can see yourself. That is all."

The screen went almost completely dark with the exception of a timer which now appeared, counting down until the end of the block. Looking around me, the recent developments seemed to have affected the five others in a variety of ways. Brady had curled up into a ball and was staring at all of us as if wondering who would be the first to try and 'eliminate' him. Diavel was sitting stone-faced in his chair. Sachi didn't seem to be faring much better than Brady, with a look of panic written all over her face. Ifra (who I had been relaying Barbra's message to) had a completely blank look on her face but her fists were clenched tightly. Kira had an inquisitive look on her face and quickly spoke up.

"All right, I think that we can all agree to avoid killing each other at all costs. I don't know what's going on in this, 'game', but for now, we play by the rules and try to stay alive. Can we all agree to that?"

I was still trying to process everything I had just seen and heard, but I gulped and said, "I second not dying."

Diavel broke his stone face and gravely nodded his head.

"I agree," Diavel started, "We cannot allow this game to divide us."

Everyone else mostly murmured their agreement, but I noticed Kira rolling eyes after his statement. Shortly afterward she stood up.

"I'm heading back to my room. No need to stress unduly about the timer."

With this statement, all six of us started funneling back into our rooms. I was the third to leave after Kira and Brady. I couldn't help noticing Sachi quickly glance at me one more time before I closed my door. Seriously what was with this? Was she expecting me to do something? I turned back to my almost completely white room before I noticed that the hand-held device had turned on. The device had a single statement on it. You have been assigned the role of ambivalent. I suddenly remembered the voice's last bit of advice, that Speculo was an extension of the mind. For a moment I wondered what that meant about myself. The ambivalent seemed to be the biggest wild card because they were afforded the greatest amount of choice when it comes to how they play the game. I wasn't exactly sure what that said about who I was as a person, but I guessed it probably had something to do with the uncertainty surrounding who I was. If that was the case, getting my memories back was probably the best way to understand how I fit into the game.

The screen on my hand-held updated after a moment, now showing a screen with the title, Choose your [Secret Meeting] partner. After a moment more of thinking, I selected Brady. He seemed to have a better grasp of how memory worked than anyone out of the five contestants. The screen changed to display the words please wait. It took almost five minutes before the screen updated to show a complete list of the meetings that would be happening.

* * *

0:00 – 0:30 – Brady Diavel

0:30 – 1:00 – Kirito Brady

1:00 – 1:30 – Ifra Kirito

1:30 – 2:00 – Diavel Kira

2:00 – 2:30 – Kira Sachi

2:30 – 3:00 – Sachi Diavel

* * *

**A/N: **So, I guess whatever weird story I wrote deserves a bit of an explanation. Basically, this idea stemmed from an interesting light novel called _Utsuro no Hako to Zero no Maria_. The first part of this story is going to based loosely on the premise of the third and fourth novels of that series. I should also mention that this story will be taking place in a slight alternate universe. I won't detail too far out exactly what that means (because that would require plot spoilers) but needless to say most major events will remain the same, with some small tweaks here and there. Regardless, I hope you all enjoy! Any comments or criticisms would be welcome and it would be great to know if you readers are enjoying the story or not.


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